My first acceptance:In at Michigan State

[jd.me?]

Got a letter from Michigan State today giving me an offer for full time study.
Thick white envelope that also included some info on their IP legal writing course and program, which sounds quite interesting.
No mention of money though  I'm not sure when they send out financial aid awards I guess I have to accept my admissions before they offer me any money?  With my numbers I have to say that I'm pleased.

2.80 154

[jd.me?]

Anyone else here considering MSU. From what you all may know about MSU what are your impressions about the law school?

[Comm-Law]

I'm in at Michigan State... I'm attending the accepted student day tomorrow (err... I guess it's actually later today now).  I'll let you know what I learn tomorrow.

- Comm-Law

[ls77]

When I considered applying there, I talked to a couple of students of both the law school and the undergrad.   They didn't sound very enthused.  The law student gave negative comments of the career office and staff.  He also said the library was full of undergrads all the time. Also, East Lansing is an okay town for the undergrads apparently, but not a great place for older students.

MSU is a 4th tier school that looks like it has tried for years to climb higher.  So far no success......  So now it seems that they've been throwing a lot of mailings, money and laptops out there to coax better students, but there are better options than this school, in my opinion.  But is it only higher LSAT scoring students that will improve a school?   Shouldn't it be better profs, services, etc.?

[MSUalum04]

I just graduated from MSU last May.  The school as a whole is a great school.  As far as the law school goes, in my opinion, it's disappointing.  MSU is a respected Big Ten University and Michigan State College of Law makes a mockery of that reputation.  The Law school consists of one building which is located right on campus near other buildings and dorms.  Inside, the Law school is nothing special.  As an undergrad I studied constantly in the Law library because there were less people there.  At times, however, the Law library became overrun with undergrads who were there mostly to socialize.  During Final Exams, you must have Law ID to enter the library but that's the only time they ever check.  Downstairs, is the business library.  As far as physical appearance goes, the law school is not that nice.  It's just a your typical building with I believe 4 floors of mostly class rooms and a moot court room.  MSU College of Law's overall approach to improvement is flawed.  They believe that by bribing high LSAT-scoring students with laptops, scholarships, stipends, etc., they will improve their ranking.  However, they have not climbed in the rankings and they have been using this approach for several years.  This tells me that they should focus on hiring better professors, improving the curriculum and facilities to move up in the ranks.  If anyone has any questions about MSU, the law school, the city of East Lansing, etc. post your questions on here and I will try to help you.... 

[Comm-Law]

Thoughts from the accepted student day at MSU:

- The overall "welcome-day" program was disorganized.  The school lacked a room large enough to hold the key-note speech so they simulcast the dean into two rooms (this was awkward).  Opening comments ran long, tours were cut short in order to allow time to eat, and there was no time to meet with student-organizations.   
- The classrooms were adequate and the law library better than average as law-schools-go
- MSU Collage of Law dropped the DCL name... they are trying to seperate the program from its 4th tier roots. 
- MSU is promoting dual-degree programs in order to leverage the MSU affiliation
- MSU is also promoting application of the law through several clinics
- MSU's campus is really nice
- East Lansing and surrounding suburbs seem to be clean, uncongested, and safe (Much nicer than say... Cleveland/Case Western)
- I was surprised to see that MSU admits about 300 students per year.  That seems much higher than a lot of schools.  That yields sections with 90 or so students for your 1L year.

That's all that hits me at the moment.  I'm sure there was more to be derived from my visit but it has been a long day... maybe I'll post more later.

- Comm-Law

[happycat]

You sound neutral about the school.  Good info, though.  Thanks! 

[MSUalum04]

- East Lansing and surrounding suburbs seem to be clean, uncongested, and safe (Much nicer than say... Cleveland/Case Western)

East Lansing itself is pretty clean and safe.  It's pretty much a typical college town.  Lansing however, is very unsafe in certain parts.  As long as you live in either East Lansing or Okemos or way off campus near Lake Lansing you will be fine. But there are some outskirts (as with any major city) of Lansing that are crime ridden and dirty.  Last year there were actually a couple random murders in East Lansing (someone was shot at a karate studio in a dispute over a girlfriend and someone was shot outside 7-11) but I think those crimes were just abberations as the city of East Lansing itself is quite safe.

[jd.me?]

Thanks for all the info.
How much is cost of living though?

[Comm-Law]

As part of the accepted student day, the College of Law had a bus tour of the local apartments.  Unfortunately, I'm at a conference in Washington DC right now and don't have any of the literature that I picked-up from the apartment tour. 

Going by memory, I believe that 1 bedrooms were roughly $400 to $900 depending on the type of housing.  $400 is an older unit with no utilities included.  $900 is a fully furnished unit at "The Glen" or some similar "planned-activity" type of housing.  These upper end places have clubhouses with indoor pools, gyms, weight-rooms, virtual-driving-range, indoor private movie theater and damn near everything you can think of to keep you from wanting to study!!

Looking at the housing prices, it looked pretty good.  It's been over 10 years since I was an undergrad and I was paying $350/month for the dinkiest apartment on campus.  So $400/month for an apartment today sounds pretty reasonable.

- Comm-Law